Conventional manufacture of fishing rods can be broken down into two main activities. The first is the formation of the rod blank. Typically, this is done with prepreg sheets of graphite and/or glass fibers onto a tapered, reusable mandrel. Resin transfer molding (RTM) is another possible method although the technique is generally considered to be hampered by low fiber volumes and a generally higher total manufacturing cost.
The second activity of fishing rod manufacture is the process of attaching the hardware to the blank in an aesthetically pleasing, correctly aligned manner. Such hardware includes the first line guide from the handle end (the stripping guide), the intermediate guides, the tip guide (the "tip top"), and a handle that includes: (a) a gripping section made of a material (e.g., cork, ethyl vinyl acetate, foamed or unfoamed rubber in a single or dual density, and polyurethane) that is readily gripped when wet as well as (b) a mechanical configuration that permits the reel to be held in or on the handle section (also referred to as the "reel seat").
The line guides are typically adhered to the blank surface at predetermined lengths and then secured to the blank with a cotton thread or wire wrapped over a guide foot and the outer surface of the rod. When the foot has been fully wrapped and secured to the rod, the thread is coated with a flexible, clear coating. A skilled employee can attach the guides to 2-4 rods per hour, depending on the style of the rod and the degree of detail specified. Such a manufacturing rate represents a significant cost for labor in the final cost of manufacture of a fishing rod.
It would be advantageous to have a process for making a fishing rod blank that would require less time and/or labor for adding the required line guides.
The cost for attaching the handle is somewhat better in terms of the required labor. A "blank-thru" handle design allow the rod blank to pass through the length of the handle with some portion thereof exposed for contact by the angler. The handle section (typically including a reel seat and a foregrip section in advance of the reel seat) slips over the butt end of the rod blank and is adhered to the underlying rod blank. In the assembly process, it is important that the reel seat be properly aligned with the line guides which are themselves properly aligned. The alignment process, although not necessarily time consuming, is critical to the commercial acceptability of the rod.
It would be useful to have a rod and manufacturing process that would assist in the alignment of the handle section with the line guides.
A desire to reduce labor costs is hardly a new concept. Others in the art have looked at processes to form fishing rods in a way that eliminated the manual layup and wrapping of prepreg. For example, JP 5-137,483 (A) teaches a process for making fishing rods by wrapping a cloth of thermoplastic reinforcing fibers around a mandrel. The wrapped mandrel is then inserted into a female mold and heated to a temperature sufficient to melt the fibers into a rod. The mold and mandrel are then removed.
JP 2-265,423 (A) teaches a resin injection process for molding fishing rods that forms axial grooves in the rod surface. The axial grooves are used as alignment guides for securing line guides.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,602,766 describes a process for molding tapered rods with a folded length of reinforcing fibers and an overbraid around a central mandrel in a mold.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,578 describes a fishing rod and manufacturing process that forms the rod blank and handle portion in the same operation. With such a formation technique, the handle material is limited to that of the rod blank although an integral construction is said to better transmit feedback vibrations to the angler.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,218,841 recognizes the labor costs associated with securing line guides to the surface of a rod blank. This '841 patent teaches a one piece fishing rod having resinous line guides molded from the surface of blank made "from a plastic material having a similar amount of rigidity or flexibility as a conventional fishing rod made of bamboo or other conventionally used material." (col. 1, lines 47-50) The blank is "potted" into a separate handle section. Unfortunately, a resinous line guide that is molded from the surface of the blank may limit the performance of the rod due to the length of the rod length devoted to the line guide.
It would be desirable to have a fishing rod manufacturing process that would allow a reduction in the amount of manufacturing labor associated with guide and handle attachment yet produce a high quality fishing rod. Preferably, the manufacturing process would facilitate the alignment accuracy when attaching the line guides and handle section to the rod blank.
In certain circumstances and for certain styles of fishing, it would be useful to have a manufacturing process that would allow the manufacture of a fishing rod of high sensitivity but in a physical shape other than a strictly linear, tapered tube. Such shapes could enhance the balance of the rod, the ease of gripping the handle or fishing rod, or the performance of the rod. Current manufacture by wrapping a solid mandrel does not facilitate the manufacture of nonlinear shapes.
It would be beneficial to have a manufacturing process that would allow the manufacture of nonlinear shapes and configurations in a fishing rod.